He's flattered. He'll put in the vegetables, and then the cream, and leave it to simmer for several more minutes.

"It's not ready yet."

He turns to face Hearthkeeper, though he averts his gaze for fear of severe brain damage.

"Do you have many guests?"

"A little over four hundred, at the moment."

She has been watching them cook with faint amusement.

"You know, there are some people who would probably be willing to teach you cooking."

Huh. He feels like he ought to have an opinion on this number but his mind is quiescent about it. Probably because he has no reference as to the typical number of people an otherworldly refuge ought to have. It's about the size of a village back home.

"I want to learn how to cook," Kandrad says plainly.

"I'll introduce you to some people once you're out of time dilation."

"Do you two have any specific requirements for the room you'll be sharing?"

Kandrad has only ever known the castle dungeon rooms, so.

He is silent.

"It would be preferable if the room had many houseplants in it. Preferably ones similar to the ones from my homeworld, but I don't know if that's something that is possible.

Is it also possible for the room to have...a shift, a bathrobe, something else to wear?" That isn't really a room furnishing but it seems like the kind of thing the question is meant to elicit. He wants to wash his dirty clothes and he doesn't want to sleep naked in the same room as Kandrad.

Speaking of sleeping, he's almost gone twenty four hours without sleep and both the coffee and the adrenaline rush are wearing off. He's totally going to crash soon.

"I can manage that."

"It's also worth noting that if either of you are willing to lend any books to the librarians for copying, it would be most convenient to do so tonight, as you would get them back in hours rather than days, according to your experience of time."

Damjen looks at Kandrad.

Mmmm. He doesn't really like it...but he trusts the Hearthkeeper, and if she was to affirm that the books aren't going to be damaged or altered in any way in the copying process, he would entrust the books to her.

Damjen says Kandrad's thoughts aloud for him.

"No, the books will not be damaged or altered. Moreover, if your books do suffer damage at a later date, the librarians would be able to make you new copies."

"Okay," he says, and then takes the bag from Damjen and pulls out the three books. They're hard cover books printed with metal type, with illustrations. Rather than move closer to the Hearthkeeper, he uses his flow to gently float the books in her direction.

She takes them.

"If you would like to stop by the library on our way to your room, to see it, we can do that. Or I can take the books there myself."

"In visiting the library, will we meet others there?" It seems extremely awkward to introduce themselves and then disappear, from their perspective, for several months.

"It's rather late, and the only person currently in the library is Dorian, one of the librarians."

Eeeeh, he's kind of reluctant. He turns to Kandrad.

He has no opinion.

"In that case, please do convey the books to the library on our behalf, thank you."

"Very well. I'll be back in a few minutes."

And she walks out with the books.

In that case, he will check on the creamy chicken soup, and see if it's cooked. He can sort of tell based on how the spiritual energy changes whether or not it's cooked all the way through, but he has little training in it.

"Can you use your spiritual olfaction to tell whether the food is good to eat now?"

He can do that!

It smells good to eat to him.

In that case, Damjen will take out two bowls and ladle some soup on them. He only wants to eat a little, to taste it, since he already ate of the stew earlier.